Moving grandfather's fossils

[GeschWhat]

On 2/5/2018 at 1:21 PM, lildragon said:

Crates full of Dinosaur poop! 

 

These are very unusual. If they are coprolites, most appear to be spirals - which would mean they came from a fish like a shark, ray, lungfish or another fish with a spiral valve.  They almost look more like stromatolites than coprolites. Have you done the lick test to see if they stick to your tongue? Any idea where they were found?

 

@Carl have you seen any spirals like these?

[GeschWhat]

On 2/6/2018 at 2:47 PM, lildragon said:

As I was digging I found these septarian nodules!

 

Is the one on the top left filled with something that looks like rainbow pyrite? I have seen similar at the Tucson Gem Show that comes out of Russia. I don't remember what they're called, but they caught my eye because they looked like coprolites on the outside. 

[lildragon]

@GeschWhat The top left cracked nodule indeed seems to be filled with raindbow pyrite. It is very dark though, but it has that rainbow sheen. The crystals are very small.

 

And regarding the coprolites, all of them are tucked together in 4-5 crates in one nook of the attic. Boxes weren't labeled, and haven't found any identification on them. I did however, find a few crates what looked to be stromatolites on top of a cabinet, but I haven't pulled them down yet. This made me think he did actually split up the coprolites and stromatolites, but perhaps he mislabeled a few?

 

Guess I gotta go lick me a few crates of dinosaur poop now... sigh. Although with all the accumulated and encrusted dust, I'm guessing everything is gonna stick. I'll bring along some dusters.

 

On a sidenote, this made for a hilarious breakfast conversation with my kiddos.

Kids: ''What are you going to be doing today mommy?''. 

Mom: ''Licking boxes full of dinosaur poop.''

Kids: Silent gaze, dropping their sandwiches, followed by giggling and lots of ''Eeewwsss''.

 

For now, I'm off. Curious to see what I'll unearth today. 

[Manticocerasman]

9 hours ago, gigantoraptor said:

I was there last year in may. Are you aware of anything i can determinate the species of crinoids with?

there is a determination table in one of our publications from the paleontology club, you can send me a PM if you want. I ll see if I can find the documents.

I know that most of the determinable stems are from Platicrinites and Floricyclus if I remember right. but I have to check.

 

[lildragon]

It's been a hectic few days digging through the fossil collection. As our timelines once more changed, we focussed on repacking and less so on taking pictures.

 

I was capable of snapping a handfull inbetween dragging away boxes, so enjoy some pictures of the main display collection first:

 

 

 

Some cool bizmuth in the front, and a very cool ammonite in the left back side.

 

 

Beautiful meg tooth. Also, cool minerals.

 

 

Drawer full of minerals.

 

 

Fun story: Grandfather used to save matchboxes and dip them in chinese ink to use as display boxes. So all the boxes you see here were made by him and his kids.

 

 

Very cool fossilized trunk amidst other things.

 

 

More shells!

 

 

Stromatolite slice?

 

And now onto the finds on the attic:

 

 

Sacks and boxes and crates FULL of labeled grits and sands. At first I guessed several 100Kg's. I think a ton is more likely. It's insane how much there is. And many bags have ruptured making it hard to dig through everything. Extra challenging were the decaying plastic bags full of this grit which had been stacked on top of other fossils. So once a sack ruptured, we had to dig... and it happened quite a few times.

 

 

Halfway through we started finding bones.

 

 

Oh. Right. And these. We named his Gaston.

We found him a couple days back. Today we found more boxes filled with human remains. Inbetween them are ceramic shards from old pots and vases.

An old label read that these remains had been dug up at an old roman settlement.

 

 

We found a dozen crates filled with plant fossils from the nearby coal mines. Some are truly lovely.

 

 

Sorting away one small table. Only a handfull of items had been prepped. Small hand written notes and even tiny technical drawings of the things he planned to do. 

 

 

 

These look like fun to prepare. Lovely matrix pieces.

 

 

Large conglomeration of shells.

 

I'll be back next week with more finds. Enjoy your weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ynot]

That is quite an eclectic collection, with lots of nice pieces.

The "stromatolite" is an agate, not fossil.

[JohnBrewer]

Quite extraordinary! I wish I was there, looks a lot of fun. Human bones too!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Good grief! 

That's amazing. 

I'd be like a kid let loose in a sweetshop. 

or bookshop for me. 

Or fossil shop, i suppose. 

[GeschWhat]

It's like sorting through treasure...only better! 

[KimTexan]

Wow, wow and wow!!! That is an awesome collection. I’m sure it could be worth a fortune to the right collectors.

Still it is just amazing and wonderful. What a treasure. I hope your husband appreciates fossils. He must to chose to keep them and make a place for them.

Thanks for sharing.

[lildragon]

Phew, today we started working with clattering teeth and full winter gear after someone left open some windows and doors over the weekend... I felt as nimble as a hippo on land, but was excited to keep digging none the less.

 

We did some outstanding finds today! And most of them come with labels!

We also found part of a collection which was on exposition a few decades ago! The expo was mainly fossils from the Devonian. Some crates still taped shut and never opened. Though most of them had been moved back to the main collection, a few of them did not:

 

 

Slabs of stones from Soignies (small city - French part of Belgium), containing trilobites.

 

 

Label reads: Oldest devonian plant.

 

There was a plant fossil from Siberia too, but it was so fragile we kept it wrapped.

 

Onto other finds now.

 

 

Chalk ammonites.

 

 

Label read Cyclolites and horn coral, together with some other specimens. two crates.

Found a few crates for larger specimens of different time periods. Many of them from the Devonian and colored more brown-ish.

 

 

Unearthed crates full of minerals. Small fraction of what we found today.

 

 

I'm guessing these are slabs of coal and shells.

 

 

Small bivalves and ammonites.

 

 

BIG ones. Some with beautiful details, though with no daylight, it is hard to take pictures.

 

I also bought a sizing card! Which... I already lost during the chaos. Sigh... Think I'll make something myself.

 

 

Fossils from Poland. Label read: Unsure.

 

 

 

Now apparently these beauties are from Poland too. The iridescent vivid colors looked amazing, but none of the specimens found were prepped. Most of them broke during transport I think. But next to my card is a large still covered ammonite... can't wait to work on it. Found an enormous piece of matrix in a different crate containing possibly multiple ammonites from the same material and site.

 

 

Found another box with Grandpa's to-be-prepped favorites. He had tons of boxes sorted like this.

 

Apart from the fossils, we found back the rather coarse tools used to extract the fossils.

 

 

Nah, just kidding. We did find some old hammers, hard-hats, chisels, boots, an ancient mining lamp, special tool belts and old bags.

Most of it worn down and again too far gone to save, and sadly a good chunk of it had already been discarded, but it was fun to see what had been used to collect what he did. 

 

Another cool find was an enormous travel crate (don't exactly know what to call it) from the 1930's! We later learned through the grapevine that Grandfathers grandmother was a nanny to a very young Shirley Temple, as she traveled back and forth between the USA, Amsterdam and Brussels. The ancient boat tickets and stamps still covering the travel crate in heaps. The latest date reading back to April 1935. We left it as it was since it had been claimed, but it was amazing to see. Working on the attic is like working in a museum.

 

Our race against the clock continues as the cleaning crew is gaining in on us as they empty the house, but I'm content to say we have secured most good. We have left the most vulnerable specimens for last. Next days will mainly be us focusing on wrapping up the unstable and fragile fossils. Stay tuned for more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

4 minutes ago, lildragon said:

Phew, today we started working with clattering teeth and full winter gear after someone left open some windows and doors over the weekend... I felt as nimble as a hippo on land, but was excited to keep digging none the less.

 

We did some outstanding finds today! And most of them come with labels!

We also found part of a collection which was on exposition a few decades ago! The expo was mainly fossils from the Devonian. Some crates still taped shut and never opened. Though most of them had been moved back to the main collection, a few of them did not:

 

 

Slabs of stones from Soignies (small city - French part of Belgium), containing trilobites.

 

 

Label reads: Oldest devonian plant.

 

There was a plant fossil from Siberia too, but it was so fragile we kept it wrapped.

 

Onto other finds now.

 

 

Chalk ammonites.

 

 

Label read Cyclolites and horn coral, together with some other specimens. two crates.

 

 

Small bivalves and ammonites.

 

 

BIG ones. Some with beautiful details, though with no daylight, it is hard to take pictures.

 

I also bought a sizing card! Which... I already lost during the chaos. Sigh... Think I'll make something my

 

 

Nah, just kidding. We did find some old hammers, hard-hats, chisels, boots, an ancient mining lamp, special tool belts and old bags.

Most of it worn down and again too far gone to save, and sadly a good chunk of it had already been discarded, but it was fun to see what had been used to collect what he did. 

 

Another cool find was an enormous travel crate (don't exactly know what to call it) from the 1930's! We later learned through the grapevine that Grandfathers grandmother was a nanny to a very young Shirley Temple, as she traveled back and forth between the USA, Amsterdam and Brussels. The ancient boat tickets and stamps still covering the travel crate in heaps. The latest date reading back to April 1935. We left it as it was since it had been claimed, but it was amazing to see. Working on the attic is like working in a museum.

 

Our race against the clock continues as the cleaning crew is gaining in on us as they empty the house, but I'm content to say we have secured most good. We have left the most vulnerable specimens for last. Next days will mainly be us focusing on wrapping up the unstable and fragile fossils. Stay tuned for more.

 

 

The trilobites from Soignes could be Cummingella belisama (smooth pygidium) and Philipsia ornata ( bumps on pygidium) 

My guess at the 'oldest' Devonian plant would be Moresnetia zaesskyi an early seed plant that can also be found in Belgium

The chalk ammonites look more like Middle Jurassic species to me, something like Parkinsonia or Perisphinctes Is that definitely chalk and not a pale yellow limestone? The lighting is deceptive

The horn corals with Cyclolites are something like Placosmilia, but coarl id is a nightmare so they may be lots of other things! 

The 'Small bivalves' with the ammonites are actually rynchonellid brachiopods, probably from the Jurassic by the look of the preservation

 The "BIG ones"  are pelecypods (bivalves), mostly internal molds of pholadomyidae, I think

The last one says "DYNAMITE", very useful in quarries or to slow down cleaning crews

Thanks for posting all of this, it's a fascinating glimpse in to the life of a fossil collector! 

My ids will now provoke a response which could prove very helpful 

[HamptonsDoc]

On 2/9/2018 at 11:09 AM, lildragon said:

And now onto the finds on the attic...Today we found more boxes filled with human remains.

This would be a very strange comment on any other forum....  

[oldtimer]

All I can say is wow wow wow!

What a collection. As others have said wish I was there to help uncover all these treasures.

Yeah, speaking of human remains in another context could sure get one in big trouble.

I can't even chose one as a favorite because each is special in it's own right.

[Carl]

On 2/6/2018 at 1:22 PM, JohnBrewer said:

@Carl likes a poo too. Not sure they’re all coprolite tho particularly the ones with holes in. 

 

@lildragon what a fun task you’ve got! Very envious of you!

Pretty unconvincing dinosaur coprolites! But I'd love a closer look.

[Carl]

On 2/7/2018 at 8:09 PM, GeschWhat said:

These are very unusual. If they are coprolites, most appear to be spirals - which would mean they came from a fish like a shark, ray, lungfish or another fish with a spiral valve.  They almost look more like stromatolites than coprolites. Have you done the lick test to see if they stick to your tongue? Any idea where they were found?

 

@Carl have you seen any spirals like these?

They really only look like concretions to me.

[Manticocerasman]

As for the trilobites of Soignies,

 

You got pygidiums of 2 species:

- Phillipsia ornata

- Cummingela bellisima

[Manticocerasman]

Just now, Manticocerasman said:

As for the trilobites of Soignies,

 

You got pygidiums of 2 species:

- Phillipsia ornata

- Cummingela bellisima

Ah ,and they are wrongly labeld in age: it is Carboniferous ( Tournaisian ) not devonian.

[MeargleSchmeargl]

I can just imagine this is my collection 60 years from now. Oodles and Oodles of stuff! 

[DPS Ammonite]

Lildragon, wonderful collection, I hope that it finds good homes. I assume that grandfather has passed and is no longer able to help answer your questions.

[lildragon]

@DPS Ammonite

 

Nope. Grandfather is still around and quite well for his age. He moved to a smaller service flat because attending to a house and collection this large was no longer viable.

He spoke his wish to us when we celebrated the new year. He told us he had treasures hidden on his attic, and asked us to "go and take a look". Sometime later it had been decided the house had to be emptied to be sold. We volunteered to clean the attic as no one else would or cared for the attic, since all eyes are on the main collection.

 

Ours weren't, so we have been cleaning for about 3-4 weeks now, in shifts. If possible I will share before and after pics.

 

@Carl I believe you are right. Though I do suspect one of the largest ones is actually a coprolite since I did the lick test as someone suggested... I do believe I spotted another one inside a drawer.

 

 

I could be mistaken. I bumped into it when I was sorting through pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lildragon]

A larger update will follow soon as we conclude our packing adventure. We are in the third week going on fourth now of securing the attic treasures.

 

But hit a bit of a snag when we had to go dumpster diving when a box full of belongings that were not supposed to be discarded... had been discarded.

Good news is, we were able to recover the most important parts of said belongings. Bad news, we lost time.

 

And as we diligently continued our hunt, we bumped into this:

 

 

 

 

I think my heartrate exceeded the norm for a good minute as I wondered whether it was armed or not. Given that it was on top of a box of fossils, I was hoping not.

 

 

We found grandfathers old reflex camera. I hope I translated it right.

 

 

 

Found a lovely broken fossil. Hopefully I can save it. @Ptychodus04 gave me tips to save it (Thank you!)

 

 

More corals and a matrix full of fossilized shells, unlabeled.

 

 

A very well preserved and lovely taxidermy sea turtle. Has been wrapped and moved.

 

 

Found some old tools of the trade for cutting and polishing minerals and preparing fossils. 

 

 

chunks of fossilized wood.

 

 

A book from 1906 about birds and bird watching.

 

 

Found this inside a bedroom, must've been one of the favorite plates.

 

 

More ammonites and corals.

 

 

Iron deposits? 

 

 

Plant fossils from the main collection.

 

 

Septarian nodule from the main collection.

 

 

Amethyst from main collection, has gone to someone.

 

 

Same.

 

 

Mammooth tooth. It has been fractured, and it went to someone who has never looked for a fossil, so we fear this soon will meet it's end.

 

 

Some flattened ammonites from Whitby - Main collection.

 

 

Cool random skull.

 

 

How we found one of the smallest rooms of the attic.

 

 

Some shells from the main collection.

 

 

Old bottles of wine. Or maybe vinegar. We don't know.

 

 

Dried up ray. Bumped into this in the dark.

 

 

Large imprint from a fossil. Going to a nephew.

 

 

Ammonite plate inside the kitchen area.

 

 

Close up from a mineral we found.

 

 

And last but not least, a good quote to live by.

 

We are in the finishing up stages right now. Only a few large crates are left to move as we continue packing and moving. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Coco]

salut

 

Many treasures !

 

Coco

[Tidgy's Dad]

This has all been very interesting, thanks so much for sharing this extraordinary collection. 

What an adventure it must have been for you.  

[JohnBrewer]

I do wish I lived near you. I’d volunteer my labour just to enjoy the unraveling of time in ‘Grandad’s attic’ with you guys.